Wissam Shawkat is a Iraqi
artist who lives in Dubai. Wissam has many
talents but we know him as a calligrapher of
Arabic script as well as a designer. His first New
York show, Letters of Love, was on exhibit at
ReedSpace on the Lower East Side of Manhattan
from February until April 2011.
I had the good fortune to meet Wissam on
his first trip to the United States. We met first in
Washington DC and then several times in New
York City. I interviewed him and we discussed
his views on his work, the state of the art of
calligraphy in both Latin and Arabic scripts and
his own personal history as an artist. He was
truly a pleasure to hang out with! Not only is he
easy going, he likes to look at any and all sorts of
art and discuss all aspects of his experience as a
calligrapher. We met at the Frick Collection one
day; the New York Public Library’s “Three Faiths”
exhibit another day and NY Central Art Supply
on yet another occasion. Our discussion about
techniques was as far reaching as it could be
given the limited time we had together. Wissam
believes that we need to be able to be able to use
the materials that we find around us in the 21st
century in addition to the tools that have been
used for millennia. I bought a Chinese brush
with a bamboo handle and watched Wissam cut
W ISSAM
SHAWKAT
it with a lightweight NT Cutter knife as I sipped
my latte in a coffee shop on Second Avenue. The
reeds and pen knives needed to cut them into
pens, available at supply shops in the Middle
East, are just not available in the US, even in
Manhattan. So we have to be more resourceful
here. Wissam even suggested the long handled
ice scraper in my car be used a pen nib! 

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